alienation

for SATB choir

About

Towards the end of 2024, Bernhardur Wilkinson, director of the Tórshavn Chamber Choir, reached out to me and asked if I would write a piece for the choir. I was happy to, and began searching for a text.

A poetry collection immediately came to mind: Whisper of Butterfly Wings by the Indian-Faroese poet Kalpana Vijayavarathan. In it, she explores her experience of being an immigrant and a woman of color in the Faroe Islands.

One poem in particular spoke to me — Alienation — inspired by Bruno Catalano’s sculptures The Travelers, which depict fragmented figures carrying suitcases, their torsos carved out by empty space.

Those statues were familiar to me from my time in New York, where they stood along Park Avenue. When I first encountered them, I was grappling with homesickness, being so far from everything I knew. Reading Vijayavarathan’s poetry back in the Faroe Islands, I found myself in a similar place — struggling with feelings of alienation and feeling like I no longer truly belonged anywhere.

Although I will never understand what it is like to be an immigrant or a person of color in the Faroe Islands, that feeling of alienation, of being caught between worlds, was something that connected Vijayavarathan, Catalano, and myself. In setting Alienation to music, I wanted to give a voice to the longing, the loss, and the strength it takes to tell yourself, “It’ll be okay.”

Lyricist

Kalpana Vijayavarathan-R

Acknowledgements

alienation was commissioned by the Tórshavn Chamber Choir with conductor Bernhardur Wilkinson. It was premiered on 12 April 2025 at Hoyvíkar Kirkja, Hoyvík, the Faroe Islands.

Composition Year

2025

Duration

3′ 45″

Instrumentation

SATB choir